A 13-year-old boy discovered a 10cm-long megalodon shark tooth on the Essex coast during a summer holiday weekend break. Ben found the tooth under rocks at Walton-on-the-Naze at about 07:00 BST on Sunday, while fossil hunting with his father Jason.
The pair, from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, had walked 16 miles along the coast over two days. Jason said his son was 'over the moon' with the find, describing it as a 'great addition' to his fossil collection. Ben hopes to become a palaeontologist.
Essex Wildlife Trust confirmed it was a megalodon tooth, dating from 20 million to 3.6 million years old. However, The Natural History Museum expressed caution, suggesting the tooth's pristine condition indicated it may have been purchased in a shop and lost on the beach.
Megalodon was a giant prehistoric shark, a carnivore that preyed on whales and seals. It lived from about 20 million years ago, long after the dinosaurs became extinct.
